Hp Pavilion 15 SSD M.2 Upgrade

[80Chips]

Hi all,

I've bought a brand new HP Pavilion ck012nl, which comes with a 1TB 5400 hard drive; I would like to add an M.2 SSD Drive (the laptop should have a free m.2 slot) and move the operating system on the SSD: can I upgrade my laptop without any issue with warranty?

In particular I was looking at this model: Samsung MZ-V6E250BW SSD960 EVO, 250GB, M.2, NVMe

Can you confirm this is compatible with my model? If not, can you suggest a 100% compatible one?

Thanks in advance

[Huffer]

The HP support pages are down right now. No access to the Service manual which will answer this question. Hang on it should be back in a matter of hours. 

[Masz0]

It is compatible and you should not have warranty issues as long as you keep all the original pieces

[80Chips]

Thank you so much. Meanwhile I was reading some threads on this forum reporting issues with that SSD and some HP model so it could be very helpful to be sure at 100% about its compatibility.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[80Chips]

Hi there,

sorry for bug you again for this, did you have any update about this topic?

Regards

[Huffer · Accepted solution]

The Manual is here:

Manual

It can take either SATA or PCIe/NVME M.2 disks. Having said that, the Evo 960 NVME has been the source of some reported troubles when users try to install it in HP laptops. Mixed reports of success/no success. I encourage you to try to find the Samsung SM951, PM961 or SM961 since that is what the HP recommended disks are. 

See pages 31-39 of the Manual. This is what you see when you remove the back cover and shows where you will find the M.2 slot:

M.2 circled

HP has assured it is OK to open the back for memory or storage upgrade as long as you do not harm and HP obviously will not cover the parts you add. 

Post back with any more questions but please Accept as Solution if this is your answer. 

[80Chips]

Hi Huffer,

thank you so much for your help.

I preferred to go with a HP Recommended 100% working solution, so I bought a Samsung PM961 256GB SSD 256GB M.2 PCI Express (MZVLW256HEHP-00000) as you suggested.

I found that it's an OEM product (used, according to some reviews, on many HP laptops) but Samsung offers support ONLY for consumer products in terms of drivers, firmware updates, software and so on...

In the support page of my laptop (ck012nl - https://support.hp.com/it-it/drivers/selfservice/hp-pavilion-15-ck000-laptop-pc/17296798/model/18162...) i saw there is a firmware update for SSD Memory even if that model comes only with 1TB mechanical disk

So my questions are:

- Is this product (PM961) used natively in the SSD configuration of the Pavilion 15 - CK000 series? 

- Will this firmware (and future updates) work with the PM961 SSD?

Thanks in advance

[Huffer]

Yes the HP Part number M.2 PCIE/NVME is a Samsung PM961. If you had ordered it with a 512 gig NVME that is what it would have. You need no driver. That file is a firmware upgrade for a different SSD. 

[80Chips]

Hi ordered the 256gb version but it should be the same I guess.

Sorry to bother you but if the part number is a Samsung PM961, as far as I understood, I'm recreating a "native-like SSD configuration": shouldn't I be able to use the firmware upgrade included in my laptop support page?

Thanks for your support

[Huffer]

Look you can go ahead and download it and try to run it but it upgrades the firmware inside a specific SSD i.e in the chips of the SSD and if you do not have that specific SSD the firmware will have no place to go. Can't hurt by trying it though. Worst that happens is nothing.